LEGO’s website was momentarily hacked early Saturday morning by a crypto scam promoting a fake LEGO coin token.
The scam appeared as a banner on the website’s homepage underneath a promotional advertisement of the LEGO Fortnite collaboration where LEGO has started to make building models of various Fortnite characters and features.
The hackers directed those who clicked on the fraudulent link to an alternate website, EconoTimes reported, however the issue was soon resolved after LEGO removed the scam from its homepage.
The crypto scam was reportedly on the homepage for around 75 minutes, the outlet Cointelegraph reported.
One X, formerly Twitter, user ZTBricks, who noticed the hack on the website, shared that the advert on the homepage had promised visitors that they could “unlock secret rewards” as well as be able to buy the new LEGO coin.
When clicked on, the link took web users to what appeared to be a Uniswap website which displayed options to buy, sell or send the LEGO coin, as shown in photos shared by ZTBricks on X.
There was no information shared on the coins themselves on the hacking site, only the note, “Unable to display historic data for the current token.”
A spokesperson for LEGO told Newsweek in a statement via email that “on 5 October 2024, an unauthorized banner briefly appeared on LEGO.com. It was quickly removed, and the issue has been resolved. No user accounts have been compromised, and customers can continue shopping as usual. The cause has been identified and we are implementing measures to prevent this from happening again.”
A Legoland shop sign is seen in Manchester, England. LEGO’s website was momentarily hacked early Saturday morning by a crypto scam promoting a fake LEGO coin token.
Peter Dazeley/Getty Images
LEGO has created collectable coins previously, with the first released in 2021, and LEGO fans could obtain the coins by redeeming different values of VIP points, according to the outlet 9to5Toys. At the time, the only way the coins could be purchased was through the VIP Rewards Center, the outlet added.
Cyberattacks are a growing problem across the globe, and according to Cyber Proof, the United States had the second highest number of cyberattacks originating from within its borders in 2021, after China.
This year, the first World Cyber Crime Index was used by Oxford University to measure the cybersecurity threat level of countries across the globe, and it found that the U.S. ranked fourth globally. The index revealed that a relatively small number of countries combined to hold the greatest cybercriminal threat, which included Russia, Ukraine, China, the U.S., and Nigeria.
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